Bulldozer



April 1958 J. F. FOSTER 2,831,276

BULLDOZER Filed May 10, 1955 F lG 3 INVENTOR.

JACK F. FOSTER TORNEYS 2,831,276 BULLDOZER Jack F. Foster, Molina, IlL, assignor to Deere & Company, Moline, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application May 10, 1955, Serial No. 507,330

8 Claims. (Cl. 37-144) The present invention relates generally to tractorcarried excavating and earth-handling apparatus and is more particularly concerned with tractor-mounted scrapers or bulldozers.

The object and general nature of the present invention is the provision of a tractor-supported bulldozer having an earth-scraping blade that is connected with a tractorcarried push frame in a simple and expeditious manner by means that is constructed to provide secure connection between the blade and the push frame and so constructed and arranged that the blade may be disposed either in a transverse position or angled toward the right or left, as desired.

More specifically, it is a feature of this invention to provide a pair of connecting parts for securely fastening the blade to the push frame, which parts may be reversed and/ or interchanged, as desired, to securely hold the blade in the desired position.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a portion of the push frame and the frame-carrying tractor, showing the blademounting means arranged so that the blade is angled to the right and throws the soil to the right in operation.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view, partly diagrammatic in character, showing the blade-mounting parts in the positions they occupy when the blade is fastened to the push frame in a transverse position.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the blade mounted on the push frame in a position to throw the soil toward the left.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the blade-mounting parts, the other part being similar but differing therefrom substantially only in its length.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the reference numeral indicates the supporting tractor, particularly the front wheels 11 thereof, and the reference numeral 12 indicates the push frame that, in the present instance, is shown as the frame of a tractor-carried manure loader, suchas the one shown in U. S. Patent 2,679,943, issued June 1, 1954, to H. M. Stueland, to which reference may be made if necessary. Briefly, the frame 12 includes right and left hand push beam structures or boom arms 13 and 14-, the forward ends of which are rigidly connected together by a cross member 15, the ends of which latter member are welded or otherwise connected to gusset plates 16 that, with outer gusset plates 17, rigidly interconnect the two pairs of pipe members 18 and 19 that make up the push beams 13 and 14. At each side of the main frame 12, the upper pipe member 18 is extended forwardly and flattened, as at 21, to receive associated structure, such as a manure loader bucket as shown in Patent 2,679,943, or a bulldozer blade as arranged according to the present invention.

The bulldozer blade 25 of the present invention is per se of generally conventionalconstruction, including a curved blade section 26 and 'a lower cutting or sharp ened member 27. The lower. portion of the blade 26 is reenforced by an angle member 28, and atone end a ground-engagin'g'or depth-limiting shoe 29 is bolted to the end of the angle member 28. Along the upper edge portion of the angle member 28 area plurality of bolts 31 that connect the angle member 28 to the curved blade section 26;

As mentioned above, the blade 25may be connected to the frame 12 either in a transverse position or, inan angled position, angled either to the right or the left, as desired, and to this end, according to the present invention, I provide a pair of connecting members 35 and 36 that act, with other parts, to. rigidly connect the blade section 25 to the main frame 12 in the position desired.

The members 35 and 36 are substantially identical, except 7 that the member 36 is somewhat longer than the member 35.

Referring for the moment to-Fig. 4, the connecting member 35 comprises a generally U-shaped member having a central section 37 and two end portions 38 and 39, each of which is apertured, as at 41, to receive associated connecting bolts 42 that are adapted to be screwed into tapped holes formed in the blade section 25. As will be seen from Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the end portion 3'8 of the member 35 is disposed in a position generally at right angles to the plane of the central section 37 while the other end portion 39 is disposed at an angle to the plane of the central portion 37. The latter portion has welded thereto a laterally outwardly extending pin or stud 44 that is adapted to be disposed in the apertured flattened end 21 of either of the frame sections 18, as will be clear from Fig. 1. The pin or stud 44 is apertured, as at 45, to receive a locking hairpin type connector 46 that holds the stud 44 in position'in the associated push beam end 21.

The other connecting member 36, Figs. 1-3, has an apertured end section 48 that is disposed at right angles to the plane of the centralscction 49 of the member .46 while the other end 51 is disposed at an angle to the plane of the central section 49, the angle of the end 51 corresponding to the angle of the end 39.

The upper portion of the blade section 25 is interconnected with the cross member 15 of the frame 12 by means of a telescoping brace arrangement indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 55. The brace 55 comprises an outer pipe member 56 pivotally connected at itsforward end, as at 57, with a bracket 58 that is secured in any suitable way to the upper central portion of the blade 26. The inner member of the brace 55 includes a pipe member 61 that is telescopically associated with the outer pipe member 56 and is rigidly connected, as ,by welding, to a U-shaped part 62 that is adapted to be clamped about the frame bar 15 by any suitable means, such as a clamping bolt 63. The inner telescopic member 61 is provided with a plurality of apertures 66 into which a connecting bolt 67, carried .by the outer telescoping member 56, is adapted to be'inserted. The openings 66 are arranged along the member 61 a. proper distance so that the blade is held in upright position, both in the transverse position of the blade, in which the central portion of the latter is closer to the frame bar 15 than when the blade is disposed at an angle, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. I

As will be clear from Figs. 1 and 3, when it is desired to position the blade 25 at an angle, so as to throw the soil in one direction or the other, the longer connecting member 36 is fixed in position at the point end of the blade and the shorter member 35 is'fixed in position between the heel end of the blade and the adjacent portion of the push frame. The angle of the sections 39 and 51 Patented Apr. 22, 1953 is such that when the pins 44 are disposed in the openings in the push frame parts 21, the angled sections 39 and 51 lie in a common plane and are thus adapted to receive the blade 25 by inserting the bolts 42 and tightening them. The brace arrangement 55 is then connected between the blade and the frame part by inserting the bolt 67 in the adjacent opening 66 and tightening the bolt 67. Fig. 1 shows the blade arranged to throw the soil to the right. If it should be desired to throw the soil to the .left, the parts 35 and 36 are interchanged so that the longer part 36 is at the right of the push frame while the shorter part 35 is at the left, as shown in Fig. 3. If it should be desired to arrange the blade in a transverse position, as shown in Fig. 2, all that it is necessary to do is to take out the bolts 42, swing the members 35 and 36 over so that the transverse ends 38 and 48 lie at the front of the push beams 13 and 14, and then insert the bolts 42 through the openings in the transverse ends 38 and 48 and into the blade, thereby fixing the latter in transverse position relative to the push frame 12. The depth shoe 29 may be connected to the blade at either end, and it is usually preferable to have the depth shoe 29 fastened to the point end of the blade, when the latter is arranged in its angled position. When the blade is in its transverse position, the brace arrangement 55 is arranged so that the bolt 67 passes through the rearmost opening 66, since the brace 55 must be in its shortened position when the blade is in its transverse position.

While I have shown and described above the preferred structure in which the principles of the present invention have been incorporated, it i to be understood that the present invention is not to .be limited to the particular details shown and described above, but that, in fact, widely different means may be employed in the practice of the broader aspects of my invention.

What I claim, therefore, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A bulldozer comprising a blade, a tractor-carried frame, a pair of attaching members, each having at one end a transverse portion and at the other end an angled portion, means connecting said attaching members to said frame so that either the transverse portions or said angled portions are disposed in forwardly facing relation, and means securing said blade to the forwardly facing portions of said attaching members.

2. A bulldozer as defined in claim 1, further characterized by said connecting mean being arranged on said attaching members so that when the transverse portions of said attaching members are disposed forwardly, said transverse portions lie in a transverse lie in a transverse plane that is disposed generally at right angles to the direction of forward travel.

3. A bulldozer comprising a blade, a tractor-carried frame, a pair of attaching members, each member having at opposite ends angled portions relative to the direction of travel, means pivotally connecting the attaching members to the forward portion of said frame, so that each of said attaching members is reversible end for end on said frame, means to fix one or the other of the end portions of each attaching member to said blade in rigid relation so as to angle the blade at an angle relative to the direction of travel corresponding to the angled end portion it is connected to, and brace means connecting said blade with said frame at a point spaced from the axis of pivotal connection of said attaching members with said frame.

4. A bulldozer comprising a blade, a frame having a pair of laterally spaced apart forwardly disposed extensions apertured at their forward ends, a pair of attaching members, one being longer than the other and each having at each end a laterally inwardly disposed blade-receiving section and a laterally outwardly extending pivot stud adapted to be disposed in the aperture in the end of the associated frame extension, each of said attaching members being reversible end for end on its pivot stud and each being interchangeable with the other, and means fixing said blade to the forward blade-receiving sections of said attaching members.

5. A bulldozer as defined in claim 4, further characterized by a brace fixed to the blade and to said frame at a point spaced from the axis defined by said pivot studs, said brace being adjustable in length to accommodate diiferent positions of said blade and attaching members relative to said frame.

6. In a bulldozer comprising a generally transverse blade and a frame having a pair of laterally spaced apertured extensions, the improvement that includes a pair of attaching members, each consisting of a central portion and two blade-receiving end portions extending lat erally from the central portion, one making substantially a right angle and the other an acute angle, and a pivot stud fixed to the central portion adjacent the right angle end portion and adapted to be pivoted to the associated apertured frame extension.

7. The invention set forth in claim 6, further characterized by one of said attaching members being longer then the other, considering the distance from the pivot stud to the acute angle end portion, whereby when the acute angle end portions are disposed in a forward position and said blade attached thereto, the blade lies at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the frame.

8. A bulldozer comprising a blade, a tractor carried frame having a pair of transversely spaced pivots at the forward end of the tractor and in transverse alinernent with one another, a pair of attaching members, each of said members having a central portion and opposite end portions, each of said end portions being adaptable for connection to the blade, said central portions having means thereon connecting said members to said pivots so that each of said attaching members is reversible end to end, said means being positioned on the member at unequal distances from the respective opposite end portions, means to fix one or the other of the end portions of each attaching member to said blade in rigid relation; and brace means connecting said blade with said frame at a point spaced from the axis of the pivots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 2,190,056 Davidson Feb. 13, 1940 2,565,337 Allan Aug. 21, 1951 2,647,331 Brugger Aug. 4, 1953 2,672,994 Werner et al. Mar. 23, 1954 

